The independent presidential candidate, Mr Derek Nally, has called for a "No vote" in tomorrow's referendum on cabinet confidentiality. Speaking at his last rally of the election campaign in Athlone yesterday, Mr Nally said the amendment had been presented as an opening-up of a blanket secrecy, as a necessary precursor to the work of the latest raft of tribunals.
The overall effect would be to copperfasten cabinet secrecy and encourage the ethos of secrecy at the heart of government. "I urge you to vote No in this referendum and to reject the cavalier attitude towards the Constitution that says, if this does not work, sure we can change it again anyway," he said.
It was no coincidence in the current political climate that people were being asked to vote into the Constitution, for the first time ever, a clause which would guarantee the secrecy of discussions around the cabinet table.
He said: "Amazingly, all the parties, with the exception of the Greens - the parties who can scarcely agree on the daily order of business in the Dail at present - agree on this. Isn't it extraordinary that so many of them can agree that we should be told so little?"
Mr Nally said that alongside the improvements in material standards in recent years there had been the growth of a deep-seated unease in the soul of the nation. It had been fed and grown fat on low standards in high places.
"It has produced a corrosive cynicism about public life, about political leadership and about public service in this country.
"Unfortunately, it is a cynicism that has been given plenty of nourishment on which to feed. It has been nourished, for example, by the existence of golden circles; by the ability of some people to buy their way into favour; by seeing the badge of our citizenship, our passport, hawked around the bazaars of the world; by watching the powerful treat their fellow citizens with contempt; and by the ability of the privileged few to avail of tax amnesties and offshore accounts while the rest of us pay our way," he said.
Political parties had done nothing to deal with this growth in cynicism. Politicians seemed to be able only to raise the temperature of party in-fighting, to increase the volume of abuse they hurl at each other, and try to excuse their own party's wrongdoing by claiming the other party had done something just as bad.
Mr Nally's rally was held up by 45 minutes to wait for an RTE camera crew to arrive. He said he had complained to RTE about its coverage of a speech he gave in Waterford last weekend which only got a few seconds' coverage, compared with the 50 seconds afforded to Prof Mary McAleese. RTE had promised the rally and his speech would be covered.
Mr Nally was interviewed by six local stations from a hotel in Athlone. He said the stations were attempting to fulfil their obligation to give equal time to all candidates. He had not received the same time as others and they were rushing to interview him before the broadcasting moratorium came into effect today.
Mr Nally said he had learned a lot during the campaign. He had learned a lot about himself, about the people of Ireland and about the way some people can suggest one thing and mean something else, the way people can operate on two different agendas without any problem with their conscience.